JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
I May 17, 1868. 
4 02 
hov se, so that only a very short stem is exposed. Even this was 
snppofed to be sufficiently covered with strawy litter, but events 
rather disagreeably proved V'e were mistaken in this respect. Both 
reds staited frem near the roots, but the oldest, or that injured, 
cveriapped the other and thus protected it. It was not the roots, 
these being well covered, that v^ere frosted, but the very short 
portion of exposed stem must have been frozen through, this causing 
the ciude watery sap to swell and thereby rupture the sap vessels. 
It was thawed as quickly as possible, but for weeks the foliage had 
to be shaded, and even then flagged badly in bright sunshine. This 
convinces me that the injury was rather of a permanent character. 
True, we managed to save a few bunches, but these were not half 
so valuable as those on the uninjured rod, and the wood was also 
much smaller. This season it is breaking strongly, but it yet 
remains to be seen that it is quite recovered from the severe check 
leceived. I have seen Boses with their tops under glass and stems 
outside crippled by frosts, but these sooner recover than did our 
Vine. In the course of a conversation on this topic with an expe¬ 
rienced fiiend in charge of a large garden in Kent, he mentioned 
having once found the whole of his Vines in an early house flagging 
badly after or during the prevalence of a severe frost. They were 
rooting in an outside border, and it was this, not the stems, that 
was badly frozen. Luckily so for him I should say, or the thorough 
watering of the border with hot water would not have restored the 
Vines and saved the crop. 
If there are any persons who do not take the trouble to thoroughly 
protect the exposed stems and roots of Grape Vines, or indeed of 
greenhouse climber or Rose, these instances ought to convince 
them they run g; eat risks in not attending closely to this matter. 
The stems of both early and late Vines ought to be well enclosed 
with haybands, felt, or old sacking. If this is done neatly there 
is no necessity to remove them after all danger from frosts is 
past, as it is doubtful if the stems are not also better for 
being sheltered from cold winds and bright sunshine. I am 
not an advocate of the practice of smothering the border through¬ 
out the year, keeping it in a sour inert state. Unless prior to 
active growth commencing it is annually lightly forked over or 
loosened to the depth roots are plentiful, and renewed with a sur¬ 
facing of fresh turfy loam and bone meal, or better still, either 
Thomson’s Vine manure or Jensen’s fish-bone manure, a frost 
would then do good, benefiting it much the same as it improves 
ordinary garden soil. No risks, however, should be run in the case 
of Vines forced or started before March, and these ought to be 
early covered by a good depth of dry leaves faced over with strawy 
litter. 
HOTBEDS ON VISE BORDERS. 
Are these of any real service to the forcer or not ? I am 
disposed to think they are, and will give my reasons. The practice 
of forming a hotbed on an outside Vine border is old-fashioned 
doubtless, but I have never undertaken to prove all time-honouied 
customs aie wrong, and have only fallen foul of a few of them. 
Probably the now very general practice of forming inside borders 
in the case of early Vines has something to do with the lapse of the 
practice under notice ; but even in this case a gentle hotbed on the 
border is I ereficial in starting the Vines strongly and in bringing 
roots to the surface. As it happens there are yet numerous 
instances where Vines rooting solely or principally in outside 
borders have to be forced so as to have the fruit ripe in May, June, 
or early in July. It is these that stand in need of being warmed 
at the roots, and unfortunately this is not very easily accompli>hed. 
A hotbed about 3 feet deep and formed with leaves and stable 
manure in about equal proportions wiU, in spite of the tendency of 
the heat to rise rather than descend, materially raise the tempera¬ 
ture of the border. Then, instead of the crops being nearly 
matured before i oot-action actually commences, the warmth in the 
border will start the roots much earlier, to the great benefit of the 
Vines. Unless so assisted hard forced Vines rarely last long in 
good health, the falling off being first noticeable in the stems, these 
refusing to increase in size and usefulness. Hotbeds are also of 
great service in attracting roots to the surface, where I suppose we 
all like to find them, and in our case we can tell to a foot where 
they are formed. Not only are they of great assistance to the old 
Vines, but those newly planted, also stand in need of them. 
Supposing dormant canes are planted, these, whether inside or out, 
start and grow rapidly for a time, quite delighting those in charge. 
Then comes a sudden stoppage, and no more real progress is made 
till the roots are active. If the latter are lively by the time the 
stored up food is exhausted no check to top growth is experienced, 
and grand rods result the same season, hence the advisability of 
giving them the benefit of a gentle hotbed. Let me repeat “ gentle 
hotbed,” for in my younger days I saw a house of Vines ruined 
owing to the roots being killed by a hotbed the reverse of gentle. 
The Vines at the time were in flower and all suddenly hung their 
heads, never to again properly recover. I was the first to discover 
the collapse, and the head gardener responsible found the cause. 
The hotbed had been formed with nearly all stable manure, and 
which had not been properly prepared. A change from cold to 
warmer weather caused the heat to suddenly rise, with the result 
already mentioned. If a hotbed is formed on a Vine border it 
ought first to be prepared as if intended for a Cucumber bed ; 
stakes should be kept plunged in it and frequently examined. If 
these are found to be unbearably hot to the hand the centre of the 
bed ought at once to be opened out and the excess heat allowed to 
escape. Later on the bed may be restored to its former state and 
the heat further husbanded by having mats or more dry litter 
spi ead over the surface.—W. Iggulden. 
GLADIOLI NOTES. 
Refekrixg to Gladioli notes by your correspondent “ B.,’' 
May 3rd, p. 364, I have from time to time during the last fifty 
years taken iu hand the cultivation and propagation of nearly every 
kind of bulbous plant grown in this country, more particularly the 
Gladiolus. We devote here annually upwards of twenty acres to- 
its culture. Surely this is proof, if proof is wanting, that it must 
be a simple process. No bulbous plants that I know of, except the 
Narcissus and Snowdrop, which are weeds in the woods and fields 
in this county, are of easier culture. Our nursery grounds here 
are composed of clay on limestone, heavy loam on gravel, red sandy 
loam and black bog. On all these soils under good tillage they do 
equally well. We prepare the land by ordinary manure and deep 
ploughing in December and January. In February and March, or 
as soon as the land is sufficiently dry, we harrow it to get it into a 
good tilth. Early in March it is drilled with a horse drill 18 inches 
apart and about 4 inches deep. The roots are then planted in the 
ordinary way of planting Potatoes and covered with the hoe. The 
spawn is put in in a similar way by hand, the drills being only 
about 1 inch deep. The same process is carried out in raising corms 
from seed. 
A great deal has been written about the well-ripening of the 
corms, disease, degeneration, and exhaustton. The first three 
complaints are not worth commenting upon ; the last is easily 
understood by every successful horticulturist. If we want to rear 
a plant or a bulb to perfection, we must deprive it of the means of 
reproducing itself until it is fully matured. We should get few 
fully developed Dutch bulbs if the flowers were not plucked. The 
most congenial seasons for the Gladiolus are those accompanied 
with high temperature and moderate, moisture ; low temperature 
and excessive moisture are unfavourable. After all, without care 
and skilful knowledge failures are certain. 
A word as to late varieties. Duchess of Edinburgh (Kelway) 
is undoubtedly the finest of all the hybrids. It increases freely 
and developes splendid corms. This, as well as Phoebus, Leviathan,, 
Ala, Marsianus, and Sassia ripens well here, and are in perfection 
in the first week of September. If possible, we manage to get up- 
all our corms before the foliage dies down. It would be a rate 
thing to see a corm perish from early lifting provided they are 
properly dried off. On the contrary, when they are left in the 
ground to die down, and are taken up in wet weather and stored 
in an unhealthy state unfavourable results follow. 
One word more. Will your correspondent “ B.” kindly tell us 
where and when Messrs. Stuart and Mein were so successful, as 
stated in his article ?— Ja.me.s Kelw.\y, Langport, Somerset. 
AURICULAS. 
My friend, Mr. Homer, would have made a capital lawyer, for he 
can get up a case for a client in first-rate style, and I must not attempt 
a defence in ewtemo. Unfortunately I am not convinced by all he says 
on the subject of self flowers. I know that the outside public esteem 
them very highly, and probably the rougher and coarser they are the 
more would they admire them, just as I remember a lady going to see 
my brother’s collection and especially admiring those beautiful ones 
with all the “• pretty fluffy stuff amongst them,” this being some cotton 
wool he had placed amongst some of his flowers which were going to be 
exhibited. These are not the kind of people whose judgment on the 
Auricula is to be taken into account. 1 acknowledge the beauty of the 
self, but I still maintain that they are behind the edged flowers. 
I am very sorry not to have sufficiently admired my friend’s babies, 
as I know there is no point on which people are so tetchy as about their 
own bantlings. I fear I have been guilty of as great a mistake as 
if 1 had told a friend that his child had red hair. Red ! oh, dear no ; 
auburn ! It may have been the light, or rather the absence of it, which 
led ine to see two shades in Laura, dear child 1 But it apparently struck 
the reporter of one of the gardening papers in the same way. As to 
Ebony, what can 1 do to make my peace I Honestly I did not notice it. 
I am sorry, for evidently my friend is not of the opinion of a coloured 
woman who was once in our workhouse here, and who, when a white 
